NCAAMBKB – Men’s College Basketball

Last Night

Michigan 71, Rutgers 62

Notre Dame 79, Syracuse 69

Michigan 71, Rutgers 62 – Michigan, without suspended Howard, beats Rutgers 71-62

Caleb Houstan scored 13 of his career-high 21 points in the second half when Michigan pulled away to beat Rutgers 71-62 without head coach Juwan Howard, who was serving the first of a five-game suspension. Former longtime Saint Joseph’s coach and current Michigan associate head coach Phil Martelli was filling in for Howard. Howard was suspended for the remainder of the regular season and fined $40,000 by the Big Ten Conference after hitting a Wisconsin assistant coach in the head during the handshake line after a loss Sunday. Ron Harper Jr. scored 19 points for Rutgers.

Notre Dame 79, Syracuse 69 – Atkinson has 20 & 17, leads Notre Dame past Syracuse 79-69

Paul Atkinson Jr. scored 20 points with a career-high 17 rebounds to lead Notre Dame to a 79-69 win over Syracuse. Atkinson made four free throws and Blake Wesley three in the final 63 seconds as the Irish scored the last seven points of the game while the Orange missed their last three shots and had a turnover after Cole Swider’s jumper made it 72-69 with 1:30 to go. Nate Laszewski scored 17 points for the Irish , who reached 20 wins for the 16th time in coach Mike Brey’s 20 seasons. Jimmy Boeheim, a graduate transfer from Cornell, led the Orange with a season-high 27 points and Buddy Boeheim added 20

Tonight

Central Michigan at Miami-OH, 7:00 p.m.

NHL – National Hockey League

Last Night

Colorado Avalanche 5, Detroit Red Wings 2

Michigan 71, Rutgers 62 – Landeskog scores twice, NHL-leading Avs beat Red Wings 5-2

Gabriel Landeskog opened the scoring 1:12 in and capped it with an empty-netter for his 25th goal of the season, helping the NHL-leading Colorado Avalanche beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-2 on Wednesday night. Tyson Jost, Nazem Kadri and Valeri Nichushkin also scored and Pavel Francouz stopped 31 shots. Colorado beat Detroit for the eighth consecutive time. Filip Zadina and Robby Fabbri scored for the Red Wings. Thomas Greiss made 26 saves. Darren Helm, facing his former team in Detroit for the first time, had an assist on Landeskog’s opening goal. Helm played 744 regular-season games with the Red Wings.

NHL – Blackhawks forward Khaira has season-ending back surgery

Chicago Blackhawks forward Jujhar Khaira will miss the rest of the season after he had surgery on his lower back. Khaira had the operation on Tuesday, and team physician Michael Terry says he is expected to be sidelined for 10 to 12 weeks. The last game of the regular season for the struggling Blackhawks is scheduled for April 29. The 27-year-old Khaira had three goals and no assists in 27 games in his first season with the Blackhawks. He agreed to a two-year contract in July that carries a $975,000 salary-cap hit.

NBA – National Basketball Association

Tonight

Cleveland Cavaliers at Detroit Pistons, 7:00 p.m.

Atlanta Hawks at Chicago Bulls, 8:00 p.m.

NCAAWBKB – Women’s College Basketball

Last Night

Ball State 64, Western Michigan 56

Toledo 76, Central Michigan 52

Northern Illinois 72, Eastern Michigan 65

Tonight

Michigan State at (6) Michigan, 6:00 p.m.

Clemson at (14) Notre Dame, 8:00 p.m.

MLB – MLB: Season to be shortened if no deal by end of Monday

Major League Baseball gave locked out players five days to salvage March 31 openers and a full season, telling the union that games would be canceled if a labor contract is not agreed to by the end of Monday. After the third straight day of negotiations with little movement, MLB went public with what it had told the union on Feb. 12. Players have not accepted Monday as a deadline and have s...